Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

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other three dozen sacred choral works have Latin texts; among them

are a Magnificat for chorus and org. (1937), a Te Deum for chorus

and org. (1943, orchestrated 1946), and a handful of psalm settings.

He also wrote some two dozen secular pieces, most of them unac-

companied. Noteworthy examples are Sonnet de Pierre de Ronsard

(1917), Omaggio a Marenzio (1965), and Carmen saeculare, for S,

T, chorus, and orch. (1968).

ANERIO, FELICE (C. 1560–26/27 SEPTEMBER 1614). Italian

composer, brother of Giovanni Francesco Anerio. He worked in

Rome, ultimately succeeding Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina in

1594 as papal composer. At the beginning of his career he wrote

madrigals; later he turned to sacred music. Like his brother, he asso-

ciated himself with the work of Filippo Neri, and wrote some works

in theatrical style for his Oratory. Surviving works include canzo-

nettas, madrigals, sacred madrigals (eight of which are for double

choir), sacred canzonettas, masses (some of which are polychoral),

other liturgical music, and motets.

ANERIO, GIOVANNI FRANCESCO (BORN C. 1567; BURIED

12 JUNE 1630). Italian composer and organist, who worked in Rome

(active at Filippo Neri’s Congregazione dell’Oratorio), Verona, and

Warsaw, Poland. He employed both conservative (polyphonic) and

progressive styles, the former derived from Giovanni Pierluigi da

Palestrina (though now usually with continuo), the latter following

the new theatrical trends being developed in Italy at the beginning

of the 17th century. His works include madrigals and much sacred

music, including masses (for four to 12 voices) and other liturgical

music, psalm settings, and a great many motets. The works in his

Teatro armonico spirituale of 1619, intended for devotional exer-

cises in Roman oratories, and notable for intensity of expression and

obbligato instrumental writing (new to Rome).

ANGLICAN CHORAL MUSIC. See ENGLISH CATHEDRAL MU-

SIC OF THE REFORMATION AND RESTORATION; ANTHEM.

ANIMUCCIA, GIOVANNI (C. 1520–C. 20 MARCH 1571). Ital-

ian composer. Originally from Florence, he was in Rome by 1550,

where he served Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza (1518–64). In 1555

he succeeded Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina as director of the

Cappella Giulia, a position he retained until his death, at which time

12 • ANERIO, FELICE

Palestrina returned to the position. He was associated with the reli-

gious gatherings of Filippo Neri, for which he composed two collec-

tions of laude. The first (published in 1563) contains standard works

in Italian for four voices; the second (1570), is more adventurous,

comprising settings of both Italian and Latin texts in contrasting tex-

tures of two to eight voices. In 1567 he published a book of masses

for four to six voices, written according to the requirements of the

Council of Trent, namely, that the text be intelligible, that chant

be given its proper place, and that anything obviously secular be

avoided. Accordingly, the masses paraphrase chant throughout; thus

they revisit a style that had received little attention since the time of

Josquin des Prez. Animuccia’s other publications include 3 volumes

of contrapuntal madrigals for four to six voices (among which are

some madrigal cycles), 1 volume of motets for five voices (many of

which paraphrase chant), 1 volume of three-voice motets and madri-

gals (among which are some madrigali spirituali), and a collection

of 20 Magnificats for four voices, characterized by continuously

changing textures. See also ANERIO, FELICE.

ANTHEM. A choral setting of an English text to be performed as part

of a church service. The term originally derived from antiphon. Al-

though analogous to the motet, the anthem is essentially English in its

origin and development. After the Reformation in England it came to

mean a polyphonic work for the Anglican liturgy. Earliest examples

of anthems are found in the Wanley and Lumley Partbooks; in addition

to anonymous works, they include compositions by Robert Johnson,

William Mundy, John Sheppard, Thomas Tallis, and Christopher

Tye. Their works are generally simple four-part polyphonic settings in

syllabic style. Some of them are contrafacta of Latin motets. During

the last decades of the 16th century, verse anthems began to appear:

larger works in which verses sung by soloist(s) with independent ac-

companiment (organ or instruments) alternate with choruses sung by

the choir, doubled by the instrument(s). Verse anthems soon became

more popular among composers than full anthems. Anthem com-

posers of the pre-Restoration era included William Byrd, Thomas

Morley, Thomas Tomkins, Thomas Weelkes, Orlando Gibbons,

William Child, William and Henry Lawes, and Walter Porter,

among lesser figures. Their works remained largely unaffected by

Continental trends: neither the polychoral style nor the developing

ANTHEM • 13

Italian theatrical style had much influence. After the restoration of the

English monarchy in 1660 (when elaborate church services resumed)

composers such as Matthew Locke and Henry Cooke worked at

the Chapel Royal. When King Charles II instituted a larger string

ensemble (modeled after the Vingt-quatre violons du Roi of Louis

XIV), verse anthems with orchestral accompaniments and interludes

(“orchestral anthems”) became popular. Composers included Pelham

Humfrey, John Blow, and especially Henry Purcell.

With the decline of the Chapel Royal after the accession of James

II (1685), interest turned from liturgical music to opera and concert

music. The anthem accordingly declined in importance, although

some significant anthems were written by George Frideric Handel,

William Croft, Maurice Greene, and William Boyce. The decline

of English church music continued through the rest of the 1700s,

though some worthy anthems were written by Jonathan Battishill

and Samuel Wesley, who championed the music of Johann Sebas-

tian Bach.

During the reign of Queen Victoria (r. 1837–1901), a revival took

place. Leading composers included Frederick A. G. Ouseley, Rob-

ert Pearsall, Henry Smart, and Thomas Walmisley, and especially,

Samuel Sebastian Wesley (whose anthems were influenced by ora-

torio and could last 20 minutes); less individualistic anthems were

composed by Joseph Barnby, John Stainer, and Arthur Sullivan.

During the 20th century, Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stan-

ford made significant contributions to reviving a distinctive English

anthem style. Lesser composers included Eric Thiman and Charles

Wood. The works of later English composers, Ralph Vaughan

Williams, Gustav Holst, Arnold Bax, William Walton, Benjamin

Britten, Herbert Howells, William Mathias, and John Tavener

(who converted to Greek Orthodoxy), tend to be less suited for regu-

lar liturgical use.

In the United States the first anthems were ones imported from

England during the later 1700s. While native composers such as Wil-

liam Billings began to make important contributions, English anthems

continued to provide the standard repertory, as is demonstrated by the

high number of English composers represented in The Boston Handel

and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music published by Lowell

Mason in 1822 (reprinted many times). After 1850 many American

composers went to Germany for study. Upon returning to the United

14 • ANTHEM

States they began writing challenging anthems beyond the reach of

volunteer church choirs. Accordingly, there arose a demand for sim-

pler material, which led to the publication of unassuming pieces such

as those issued by Edmund Lorenz in The Choir Leader (a monthly

publication modeled after Novello’s Musical Times). Leading anthem

composers around the turn of the century were Dudley Buck and

Horatio Parker. While Parker’s works were more sophisticated,

Buck’s anthems were more popular. Later 20th-century composers

of anthems in North America included F. Melius Christiansen, Leo

Sowerby, Clarence Dickinson, Tertius Noble, Healey Willan (the

latter two British-born), Daniel Pinkham, Alan Hovhaness, and Lee

Hoiby, among others.

ANTIPHON. A liturgical chant usually sung both before and after a

psalm or canticle.

ANTIPHONAL. A “call and response” style of performance in which

two or more distinct groups perform in alternation.

ANTIPHONY. Music written in antiphonal style. The performing forces

are divided into distinct, often spatially separated groups, which respond

to each other in contrasting ways. See also POLYCHORAL STYLE.

ARCADELT, JACQUES (?1507–14 OCTOBER 1568). Franco-

Flemish composer active in Italy (Florence and Rome) and France.

In 1539 he was appointed to the Julian Chapel, in 1540 to the Sistine

Chapel. He remained in Rome until returning to France in 1551. In

contrast to a handful of sacred works (among them, three masses)

Arcadelt’s secular output includes about 120 chansons and about

250 madrigals. Most of both genres are for four voices. It was for

his madrigals that Arcadelt became most famous. Their accessibility

led to an immediate and lasting popularity—his first volume was

reprinted 58 times during his lifetime, ensuring that their creator’s

legacy continued long after his death.

ARCHER, VIOLET (24 APRIL 1913–21 FEBRUARY 2000). Ca-

nadian composer and educator whose studies with Béla Bartók and

Paul Hindemith influenced her style. An untiring promoter of Cana-

dian music and 20th-century compositions in general, she produced a

wide-ranging body of work, including about 30 choral works, among

them settings of biblical psalms and other sacred texts. Larger works

ARCHER, VIOLET • 15

include Choruses from “The Bacchae,” for female chorus and orch.

(1938); Leaves of Grass, for SATB and orch. (1940); Apocalypse,

for S, mixed chorus, brass, and timp. (1958); and Paul Bunyan, for

mixed chorus and pf. (1966).

ARGENTO, DOMINICK (27 OCTOBER 1927– ). American com-

poser who studied with Luigi Dallapiccola and Henry Cowell,

known especially for his operas. Among his choral works are Gloria,

for SATB and pf./org. (1963; arr. for SATB, org., perc., hp., and strs.

in the opera The Masque of Angels, 1964); Sanctus, for SSAATTBB

and pf./org. (1963, also used in Masque of Angels); The Revelation

of St. John the Divine, for T, male chorus, brass, and perc. (1966);

Let All the World in Every Corner Sing, for SATB, brass qt., timp.,

and org. (1980); Jonah and the Whale, for T. Bar., nar., SATB, and

chamber ens. (1973); I Hate and I Love, for SATB and perc. (1982);

Te Deum (Verba Domini cum verbis populi), for SATB and orch.

(1987); The Vision, a motet for chorus and str. qt. (2000); Orpheus,

for SSA (2002); and Evensong: Of Love and Angels (in memory of

Carolyn Bailey Argento, 1930–2006), for S, treble, reader, chorus,

and orch. (2007).

ARIA. Most commonly, a lyrical vocal solo with instrumental accom-

paniment within a work of operatic style (e.g., opera, oratorio, or

cantata). In contrast to recitative, its rhythm is metrically regular,

and its text often set melismatically. In dramatic terms, it usually

represents a pause in the dramatic action, during which a character

conveys his or her reaction to the situation. In the later 17th and

early 18th centuries the da capo aria became very popular—its ABA

structure encouraging embellishment during the repeated section.

The name derives from the practice of indicating the repetition of the

A section with the rubric “da capo.”

ARIOSO. A lyrical style of vocal solo writing, whose regular tempo

contrasts with the declamatory and unmetered style of recitative; a

short passage in this style, often appearing at the end (or middle) of

a recitative.

ARMSTRONG, ANTON (26 APRIL 1956– ). American choral con-

ductor and teacher. A graduate of St. Olaf College (Northfield, Min-

nesota), he returned to his alma mater in 1990 to conduct the St. Olaf

16 • ARGENTO, DOMINICK

Choir. He is active internationally as a guest conductor and lecturer.

His area of expertise is youth and children’s choral music, and since

1998 he has served as the founding director of the Youth Choral

Academy of the Oregon Bach Festival. He is editor of a multicul-

tural choral series published by Earthsongs Publications and coeditor

of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series issued by Augsburg Fortress

Publishers. In 2006 he received the Robert Foster Cherry Award for

Great Teaching from Baylor University.

ARNELL, RICHARD (15 SEPTEMBER 1917– ). English composer

and professor of music theory who made numerous trips to the

United Sates. He is known primarily for his instrumental works and

film scores. His choral works include The War God, op. 36, a cantata

for chorus and orch. (1949); Ode to the West Wind, op. 59, for chorus

and orch. (1949); Town Crier, op. 118, for speaker, chorus, and orch.

(1970); and Xanadu, for chorus and orch. (1993).

ARNOLD, SAMUEL (10 AUGUST 1740–22 OCTOBER 1802).

English composer (especially of works for the stage), organist, con-

ductor, and editor. His extant choral works include some 9 oratorios,

9 odes, 6 services, 17 anthems, several published volumes of hymns

and psalms, and catches, canons, and glees.

AUBER, DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT (29 JANUARY 1782–12

MAY 1871). French composer known for his opéras comiques. As

a youth he studied composition privately for three years with Luigi

Cherubini. His early career was devoted to opera. In 1842 he be-

came the director of the Paris Conservatoire (where he emphasized

vocal instruction), and in 1852 he became maître de chapelle to

Napoleon III. His choral works, which are little known, date mostly

from this later stage of his life. They include some 40 pieces for the

Mass (mass movements and settings of “O salutaris”), more than

a dozen other sacred motets, and secular cantatas. In general the

works written for the royal chapel are homophonic and melody-

dominated. Most of them exist in two versions: one with organ (and

perhaps harp) and one with orchestra.

AUGENMUSIK. A term used to describe musical notation whose

meaning can be seen in the notation but not heard in the sound. It

was common in madrigals of the Renaissance era. Examples include

AUGENMUSIK • 17

the use of black notes used to signify blackness, night, or mourning;

white notes to suggest light, day, or even eyes.

– B –

BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL (8 MARCH 1714–14 DE-

CEMBER 1788). German composer, keyboard player, and church

musician. As a son of Johann Sebastian Bach, Philipp Emanuel

attended the Thomasschule in Leipzig, where his father was Kantor.

Shortly before 1740 he gained his first major music position—that

of harpsichord player in the orchestra at the court of Crown Prince

Frederick of Prussia (later Frederick the Great), an avid music lover.

The situation in Berlin was not a happy one for Bach, and he made

several unsuccessful attempts to gain a church position (among them,

two applications to follow in his father’s footsteps in Leipzig).

C. P. E. Bach eventually succeeded Georg Philipp Telemann as

director of the principal churches in Hamburg, taking up his duties

in 1768. There he relied to a great extent on the works of others.

Although he wrote many Passions, his settings are actually pastiches

that borrow choruses and other music from the works of others (his

own father among them). For special occasions, however, he wrote

original music. In addition to about 20 Passions, his choral works

include about 20 cantatas and choruses, and several oratorios. Note-

worthy is Heilig, a work for double chorus, 2 ob., bn., 3 tpt., timp.,

str., and continuo (1776), which has a striking double fugue. Bach’s

oratorios received considerable attention, their fame reaching beyond

German borders. They include Die Israeliten in der Wüste (1769),

Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu (1774), and Du Göttlicher

(1770), a Passion cantata based on his first St. Matthew Passion.

BACH COLLEGIUM JAPAN. See SUZUKI, MASAAKI.

BACH, JOHANN CHRISTIAN (5 SEPTEMBER 1735–1 JANUARY

1782). German composer active in Milan and London. The youngest

son of Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Christian converted to Ca-

tholicism and accordingly wrote liturgical music for the Catholic rite,

including about 20 works for soloists, chorus, and orchestra (among

them, mass movements, 3 Magnificats, and psalm settings). He also

18 • BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL

wrote 1 English anthem and 1 or 2 each of odes, cantatas, oratorios,

and serenatas in Italian or English. Unlike his instrumental works,

the sacred works are often conservative in style, with polyphonic or

antiphonal passages paying homage to tradition.

BACH, JOHANN CHRISTOPH (BORN 8 DECEMBER 1642;

BURIED 2 APRIL 1703). German composer and organist. He was

the uncle of Johann Sebastian Bach, active in Eisenach as church

organist and court harpsichordist, and was held in high regard by the

family as a composer. Therefore he probably had a significant influ-

ence on his young nephew. His choral works include 11 motets (five

of them for a single five-part chorus and six for a double four-part

chorus), and a half-dozen vocal concertos with demanding instru-

mental parts (including two for five-part double chorus).

BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN (21 MARCH 1685–28 JULY 1750).

German composer and organist. During his lifetime he was renowned

as an organ virtuoso; after his death (especially from the beginning

of the 19th century) his status as a composer rose to unparalleled

heights. In his music expressive beauty and formidable structural

complexity come together, clothed in a language that synthesizes

many of the styles and techniques of his day, while surpassing its

models in originality and coherence. His own prowess as an organ-

ist evidently led him to expect much of others, for his music places

great technical demands on the performer—in particular, the diffi-

culty of Bach’s vocal writing lies in its “instrumental” character. His

unsurpassed mastery of counterpoint (especially fugue) and har-

monic invention had clear and direct influence on composers of later

generations, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van

Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, and Johannes

Brahms, once they had encountered his music.

Born into a family that had produced church musicians for gen-

erations, Bach apparently received his first keyboard lessons from

his older brother, Johann Christoph, an organist in Ohrdruf, after

the death of his mother and father in 1694 and 1695, respectively.

There he stayed until 1700, when he enrolled in the school at St.

Michael’s Church in Lüneburg (near Hamburg), where he sang in

the Mettenchor, an ensemble of about 15 choristers, and received

free schooling. He traveled more than once to Hamburg, where he

BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN • 19

was influenced by J. A. Reincken, the organist at St. Catherine’s

Church. During this time he also became acquainted with French

style and taste, due to the influence of the nearby court at Celle, with

its orchestra of French musicians.

After a brief stint at the minor court of Duke Johann Ernst in Wei-

mar, Bach assumed his first significant post as organist at the New

Church in Arnstadt (1703–7). There he was soon in conflict with

the consistory due to a disagreement about the extent of his duties

and some unruly students. After overextending a leave of absence

to hear Dietrich Buxtehude in Lübeck, Bach accepted an organ

position at St. Blasius Church in Mühlhausen, where he stayed for

only one year. Although he was not expected to produce cantatas

regularly in either Arnstadt or Mühlhausen, he wrote some of his

earliest cantatas during these years (e.g., BWV 106 and BWV 71).

When he resigned his position at Mühlhausen in 1708, he stated that

he had experienced hindrance in his life’s goal of instituting a “well-

regulated church music.” The fact that his pastor was a Pietist may

have contributed to the congregation’s apparent antipathy toward

elaborate church music.

In 1708 Bach assumed the position of court organist at the court

of Duke Wilhelm Ernst August (the older brother to his former em-

ployer). Bach composed many of his organ works during this time.

It was also during these years that he familiarized himself with the

music of Antonio Vivaldi. Until 1714, when the title Konzertmeister

was conferred on him, he was not responsible for the regular produc-

tion of cantatas; thereafter he was expected to produce one cantata

every four weeks. Because of a family feud between the two ducal

courts in Weimer, Bach eventually fell out of favor with Duke Wil-

helm. He accordingly demanded his release so that he could accept

an offer from the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen, where in 1717 he became

Kapellmeister at the court. Because the prince was Calvinist rather

than Lutheran, Bach’s duties were largely related to the production

of instrumental music and the occasional cantata for birthdays or

holidays. At the end of 1721, the music-loving prince married. Un-

fortunately his bride was not nearly so interested in music. By 1722,

when Johann Kuhnau died in Leipzig, Bach was ready to apply

for the vacant position. Although he was not the town council’s first

choice, Bach eventually got the post, and he moved there with his

family in 1723.

20 • BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN

In Leipzig Bach assumed the most prominent music position in the

city, a post with dual titles and roles. As Kantor he was responsible

for the music education of the boys enrolled at the Thomasschule. As

director musices he was responsible for the musical activity of the

city, above all, for providing music in the four principal churches.

Bach began his duties on 30 May, the first Sunday after Trinity,

at the Nikolaikirche. During the next 27 years, until his death in

1750, he wrote most of his vocal works, including almost all of the

surviving, securely attributed cantatas—about 210 in number, of

which approximately 16 are secular (questions of attribution and the

existence of works in multiple versions make it difficult to establish

unequivocal totals), the Magnificat, the St. Matthew Passion, the

Christmas Oratorio, and the Mass in B Minor. The St. John Passion,

too, belongs to the Leipzig period, although at least parts of it were

evidently composed earlier.

Bach’s weekly obligations in the four churches were divided

among four ensembles comprising students from the Thomasschule,

professional town musicians, and instrumentalists from the university

as needed. While he himself directed the best choir (a group of 12 to

16 members), appearing on alternate Sundays in the Thomaskirche

and the Nikolaikirche, student prefects led the other three groups.

For the primary churches, Bach was expected not only to prepare

but also to compose the principal music (Hauptmusik) for Sunday

services. Such pieces were defined functionally—they served as

musical exegesis of the day’s scriptural theme(s)—and were not yet

called cantatas. (Not until the 19th century was the term was applied

generally to such works, notably by Philipp Spitta and the editors of

the Bach Gesellschaft, who were primarily interested in their stylistic

characteristics.) He also provided vocal music for special occasions

such as weddings, funerals, inaugurations of newly elected city of-

ficials, and—at his insistence—the orations and four yearly festivals

(Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, and Reformation Day) at the Uni-

versity Church (St. Paul’s Church).

Since Bach did not have a large body of cantatas on which to draw,

he began composing immediately. His first two cantatas were particu-

larly ambitious: BWV 75, Die Elenden sollen essen and BWV 76, Die

Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes are large, 14-movement works, about

40 minutes in duration, with matching chiastic structures. Within a few

years, Bach had produced several liturgical cycles. According to his

BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN • 21